KEY POINTS:
New Zealand Cricket is considering radical measures to counter the rising threat of the Indian Cricket League (ICL).
Reports out of India suggest the league is set to expand from six to eight franchises and will incorporate an annual 50-over tournament as well as a Twenty20 carnival. It
is set to relaunch in March next year.
Coupled with the fact the BCCI, Indian cricket governing body, has recently made five New Zealand cricketers wealthy - Stephen Fleming, Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram and Scott Styris - and you have a situation where the next tier of cricketers are particularly vulnerable to ICL overtures.
Some of those players such as Kyle Mills, James Franklin and Chris Martin would be badly missed if they decided to leave for the money, something of which NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan is acutely aware. He told Herald on Sunday he was considering options which could staunch the bleeding before the cut was was made.
They include:
* Increasing the number of centrally contracted players to 25;
* Including a sweetener for those not signed by the BCCI's Indian Premier League;
* Lobbying the BCCI to sign more New Zealanders;
* Increasing the value of player retainers.
The latter is a given, considering NZC's groundbreaking $50 million broadcasting deal with Sony and an improved dividend from the International Cricket Council, but how the wealth is spread will be fascinating.
There is also a certain irony in the fact New Zealand should find itself open to player raids when the fortunes of the national team are at such a low ebb. However, cricket has never been in such rude health financially due to burgeoning Asian economies.
Some of the players signed by the BCCI, particularly Sri Lankan and South African players, were fringe internationals and Vaughan believes there might be more scope for other New Zealand cricketers to be signed.
"The process of picking these players is the BCCI's business and we've put forward our best players for consideration and they choose who they want," Vaughan said.
"We can try [to lobby them]. We can say these are our prime assets and you should have a good look at them."
Most of the signings were captured during last year's world Twenty20 championships when the air was thick with talk of those going to the ICL.
"You could say at that stage it was unfortunate Kyle [Mills] was injured because he would have been next cab off the rank you would think."
The beauty of the IPL over the ICL is it is sanctioned and players are signed with the understanding they must be available for their countries first, franchises second. But human nature dictates that if a player thinks he's been diddled out of one pot of gold, he'll seek another and those intangibles, like desire to represent your country, become blurred.
There is still hope among national bodies, NZC included, that the ICL will be a short-term flight of fancy for Zee Television, the broadcaster backing the concept.
Those bodies would have received encouragement from the fact that, in television terms, few people watched the tournament.
Peak viewing for the ICL debut was 0.5 per cent, the lowest rating for live cricket in India over the past decade.
"Heaven knows what their business case for expansion is but it can't be based on viewer numbers," Vaughan said. "But we are keeping an eye on it... and maybe there are things that we can look at in the structure of our contracts.
"We have a shallow player pool and we can't afford to lose players."
Vaughan acknowledged a line had to be drawn with those selected for the IPL, but those "near that line but not over it" had to be encouraged to play for New Zealand, giving rise to the possibility of a non-selection bonus.
"We don't know how we might structure that but we will be working very closely with the Players' Association on this one," Vaughan said.
The NZCPA would not necessarily argue for an increase in centrally contracted players despite the fact it would bring them into line with Australia and England. They too recognise that the retention of the elite players is more important than increasing the contract pool.
"We are starting to talk to Heath [Mills, Players' Association head] about what might be possible. It's this balance - yes we'd like to lock up as many players as possible but... you can either pay fewer people more or more people basically what they're getting now."
Currently the top retainer is $125,000, reducing in $5000 increments until $45,000. NZC faces the unenviable task of trying to use those figures as a retaining wall against the billion of rupees now being thrown at the players when it comes to re-signing players before June.
